(The Center Square) – The weekend winter storm pummeled parts of Tennessee, where more than 167,000 people remained without power in the Nashville area early Monday afternoon while emergency management officials warned of falling trees that could cause more outages.
The snow and ice led to school and state offices closing both Monday and Tuesday. President Donald Trump granted Tennessee’s request for an emergency declaration, allowing for additional support and resources, Gov. Bill Lee announced.
The National Weather Service warned below-normal temperatures and air with below-zero wind chills could be life-threatening to people who still have no electricity.
Nashville Electronic Service crews restored power to over 50,000 people overnight. A representative said the utility anticipated a “prolonged event,” and in some cases trees have fallen and knocked out electricity that had been restored.
Crews with the Nashville Department of Transportation identified at least 800 locations where trees had fallen and worked through the night to address around 150 of them, leaving hundreds more still to clear, according to the department. At least 458 of the felled trees had impacted wires.
As of Monday, the transportation department had addressed all primary snow removal routes, plowing and salting over 10,000 lane miles, and were focusing their efforts on secondary routes.
More than 300 contracted line workers have been brought in to assist with storm damage, said Director-Chief of Emergency Management William Swann.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who declared a state of emergency, said it could be several days before power is restored everywhere, calling the storm an “extraordinary” winter weather event.
On Sunday, power crews were tackling at least 76 broken poles in the Nashville area as more than 70 distribution circuits were out.
The 9-1-1 center experienced such a high call volume that it led to delays in answering. At one point, the Nashville Police Department had over 400 pending calls, according to Chief John Drake.
Overnight, a shortage of air traffic controllers led to the closure of a tower at Nashville International Airport. It closed at 1 a.m., notifying airlines of the staffing shortage. The staffing issue has been resolved and the tower has reopened, according to O’Connell.
The National Weather Service warned that extreme cold could remain in the area until noon on Tuesday, with wind chills as low as 11 below zero, jeopardizing those with no electricity.
At least 112 warming centers have opened across the state, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
